


beneath the waves

by kimaracretak, spacewitchescantdie



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Sentient Atlantis, Wraith Queen Teyla Emmagan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2019-11-16
Packaged: 2021-01-26 00:51:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21365452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimaracretak/pseuds/kimaracretak, https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacewitchescantdie/pseuds/spacewitchescantdie
Summary: Atlantis sinks when the Asurans come. Life reconfigures itself.
Relationships: Teyla Emmagan/Elizabeth Weir
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14
Collections: Femslash Exchange 2019





	beneath the waves

**Author's Note:**

  * For [havocthecat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/havocthecat/gifts).

The shield around Atlantis extends just far that Elizabeth can reach her hand out and feel the thin film of energy against her fingertips. Outside, the water hangs in a heavy curtain, shot through with the occasional thread of brave sunlight and the rare spot of colour from the marine life.

The debris has long since stopped falling; the battle for air supremacy lost months ago and the corpses of ships and too many pilots have all made their way to rest on the bottom of the sea floor.

They hadn't thought about the debris when they'd sunk the city. Hadn't known how long the shield would last. But the waters had done in moments what no amount of space had been able to do for years, and separated Atlantis and Asuras enough that Elizabeth and everyone else in the city could take a moment to breathe.

At least until the ZPM had died and the shield _hadn't_.

The door hisses open behind Elizabeth, and she hears the soft fall of footsteps moving out to join her on the balcony. She doesn't bother turning around; only a handful of people brave the world between sea and walls these days, and only one of those people could possibly know where she was.

"Hi, Teyla," she says, as the other woman reaches her side. "Any new life or death emergencies in the past hour?"

Teyla snorts, folds her arms over the railing and nudges Elizabeth's shoulder gently with her own. "Just the usual. Radek ate the last of Katie Brown's salad. Our sister city is contemplating our destruction. And Todd wants to talk to you."

Elizabeth shuts her mouth on the questionable edibility of _any_ of the science department's salads and replays that last one. "Todd is new. Right?"

Teyla sighs, and drops her head to her arms. "I _guess_," she sighs, and her voice is only barely muffled by her jacket sleeves. "There's just - so much all the time now. So many of them awake, so many voices ... sorting though them can be difficult. I apologise."

Elizabeth reaches out to rest a hand on Teyla's back. The perpetual damp that still manages to creep through the shield never seems to touch Teyla, and they both try hard not to think too hard about why. "It's alright. I know you have more than enough to handle. And besides," she smiles, "I'm sure if it were truly urgent he would be here already, with whatever he's calling music these days playing loud enough to raise the city."

Teyla's laugh is so sharp Elizabeth knows immediately it's not hers alone. "Might not be for lack of trying. No one's tried to get through the blockade in …"

She trails off. Time has gone loose and malleable under the waves, with the city lights in a power-conserving perpetual violet twilight, and what little sun reaches this far down warped by the shield and blocked by the walls. And though Rodney swears it's necessary for the continued existence of the shield, Elizabeth knows that Kate's starting to become concerned about the psychological impact the lack of light has on the remaining expedition members.

Elizabeth has never felt anything but secure in the dimness - _safe_, she would say, to a select few people who shared her belief that the shield's continuing existence has more to do with Atlantis itself than any ZPM. And she knows without asking that Teyla feels the same; draws, perhaps, extra comfort from the way the cool shadows hide the blue that's starting to bleed through her skin.

"Elizabeth?" Teyla's hand is cold against her back, and Elizabeth jerks back to awareness. The movement of the water against the glimmer of the shield is hypnotic, and sometimes she thinks that's all that keeps her from walking through it just to see what would happen - because she knows just as surely as she knew that the city had to sink, as surely as she knows Teyla loves her, that the shield would let her. "Elizabeth? Are you here?"

Elizabeth smiles, almost despite herself. Neither of them need to ask anymore if the other is something simple as _okay_: words, too, have slipped underwater. "Enough." She leans into Teyla's touch, rests her head on her shoulder. Teyla's love is a cold thing, these days, but Elizabeth doesn't mind. She herself hasn't been warm since she left Asuras for the first time, and the reminder that she's not alone with the chorus of machines at the base of her skull is more of a comfort than she'd ever expected it to be. "What were you saying?"

"The blockade," Teyla sighs, and Elizabeth can hear her rueful smile. "When did someone last get through?"

Twenty five days, sixteen hours, four minutes, thirty seven seconds. The part of Elizabeth left on Asuras, the one that doesn't wear her face anymore, knows, and therefore Elizabeth can't help but know now that Teyla's asked directly. Forty eight days, five hours, fifty two minutes, and eighteen seconds since someone made it through successfully. "Too long," she says instead, as if not looking too hard at the numbers will let them float away. "But if anyone's going to make it these days, I believe it could be Todd."

"He is … preferable to many others who could come through, yes," Teyla says, and her arm tightens around Elizabeth's waist. "Oh, I know I started this but I do not wish to talk about work anymore, Elizabeth."

"Good." Elizabeth leans up to press a kiss to Teyla's cheek. The texture of her blooms sharp against Elizabeth's senses, and she stifles a gasp. Their skin is far from the thing that has changed most about them since the war began, but it still surprises her every time.

"Is that a promise or a question?" Teyla teases, turning to gather Elizabeth fully into her arms. Her newly pale hair drifts behind her, catching staticky against the shield as she puts the ocean to her back.

Elizabeth raises an eyebrow. "Both?"

It's nearly impossible that they're not thirty seconds away from ten types of disaster, but for the moment, the possibility of a promise is worth it to hear Teyla's real laugh again.


End file.
